In summer 2001, Media Blasters released the Keita
Amemiya Collection on DVD, including the director’s best films such as
MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAIKAIDER, MOON OVER TAO, and ZEIRAM 2; the sequel
to 1991 international hit, ZEIRAM (I believe the original is currently
out-of-print on DVD). The 1994 sequel reunites the cast of the original
and pits them against an all-new indestructible Zeiram monster. Amemiya
recruited original ZEIRAM actress Yuko Moriama to reprise the
ever-important role of Iria the galactic bounty-hunter. And while the
sight of a waif-ish young girl going toe-to-toe with a hulking monster
seemed ridiculous in the first one, Moriama has matured into the role
nicely. Amemiya was so impressed with her growth that he also cast her
in MOON OVER TAO and ZEIRAM 3. Moriama’s Region 1 fans can also see
her in REBORN FROM HELL: SAMURAI ARMAGEDDON, also available on DVD from
Media Blaster’s Tokyo Shock label. Getting back to Amemiya, it’s
amazing what the director captures on film, considering the made-for-TV
budgets that he has to work with. There has also been a clear path of
progression in all his works, with each movie getting better and more
stylized. For example, Amemiya acknowledged the overlong running time of
ZERIAM 2 by keeping his next film, MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAIKAIDER down to
75 minutes. Each of his films become increasingly surreal while more
artfully realized. Amemiya’s eclectic films are a perfect fit for
Media Blaster’s live-action Tokyo Shock collection.
Kamiya (Yukijiro Hotaru) and Teppei (Kunihiko
Idea) now work with one another as technicians for an electrical
company. They haven’t seen Iria in years and believe she is in space.
However, she is on a secret assignment on Earth with her new partner,
Fujikuro (Sabu). Iria and her sniveling partner are after a space
crystal called Carmarite, which allows their super computer BOB to
transfer matter. The problem is the highly-coveted Carmarite is wanted
by a many unworthy parties, and Iria is attacked by alien assassins who
seek to abscond with it. When Teppei learns that Iria’s headquarters
is located in Tokyo, he attempts to make contact with her. BOB tests the
power of the crystal by transporting Aria to a remote city—that’s
when Fujikuro reveals his true colors. He is a con-artist pretending to
be Aria’s friend so he can steal the Carmarite to sell to the highest
bidder. When he discovers that Iria took the Carmarite with her, he
destroys the BOB computer in a fit of rage. Then he kidnaps Iria’s
friend Teppei to trade for the crystal. Meanwhile, Kamiya witnesses Iria
on a security camera and realizes that she is back. He calls Teppei on
his Cell phone tell him of the good news, but his best friend is driving
like a madman (because he’s got a gun to his head) to rendezvous with
Iria in the remote location. Teppei informs him of his situation and
Kamiya proceeds to Iria’s destroyed headquarters. Kamiya re-activates
BOB, who fills him in on the situation. While this is all going down,
Iria faces death at the hands of an alien army that even she could never
hope to defeat. Her galactic superiors send her a Zeiram unit to defend
her from the alien mob. This new super-powerful Zeiram slaughters all
those who threatened Iria. The splattering blood causes the Zeiram unit
to go into overdrive. The creature creates a escape-proof environment
called a ‘zone’, and traps Iria and her friends into it where they
will become easy prey. Back at Iria’s headquarters Kamiya witnesses
the return of the Zeiram, and demands that BOB transport him into the
zone, where he can help save Iria and Teppei. With the three individuals
together again, they must use all their strength and cunning if they
ever hope to defeat this renegade Zeiram unit and escape the zone alive!
Keita Amemiya’s sequel is essentially a remake
of the first film. The three central characters, aided by their
artificial intelligent computer, find themselves trapped in a ‘zone’
and forced to do battle with the monstrous Zeiram and it’s
bloodthirsty symbiote. ZEIRAM 2 on the whole is not a superior effort
than the first film, but it does offer more characterization. The first
film made the indestructible Zeiram the star—this one focuses more on
Iria and her colleagues, and relegates the monster to a secondary
character. Iria has much more screen time and more depth. Teppei and
Kamiya are also more fleshed out. We learn that Teppei is getting
married and Kamiya has marriage problems. Many times in the film Teppei
and Kamiya exchange barbs with one another like a Japanese version of Abbott and
Costello. ZEIRAM 2 also brings new characters (or secondary villains if
you will) to the franchise, such as Fujikuro and the alien outlaws. This
brings us to the one major flaw of the movie. While the extra characters
and exposition scenes provide added depth to the film, it really slows
down the pacing. Amemiya could have easily removed 20 minutes of footage
here and the plot would still make sense and the movie would have more
flow. Amemiya’s cinematography has improved tremendously since the
original, an area he would continue to improve upon in later films (just
check out the visual poetry of MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAIKAIDER). His usage
of special effects, action scenes, and tighter pacing would also improve
in the future projects. The new Zeiram monster is well-designed and
fearsome, with some totally new weapons and gadgets. In one scene
Zeiram’s symbiote spits up an egg, which quickly grows into a
demonic-looking dog monster. In another scene Zeiram creates a
cybernetic dragonfly from his bloody stump of an arm. ZEIRAM 2 is also
more violent than the first. Although this added violence is executed
with fluid camera movements that obscures the massacre of the monster’s
victims, there is still some extreme gore shown. Another area in which
this sequel lacks (compared to the original) is there is no stop-motion animation scenes, that really made the original fun.
Media Blaster’s video presentation of ZEIRAM 2
is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 1.85.1. The film looks
like it was shot with high definition video cameras which provides a
glossy look for ZEIRAM 2 even though this was not shot on film. Media
Blaster’s transfer properly conveys the color, clarity, and hues that
Keita Amemiya intended. At times the movie attains a softness that I
believe is intentional on the part of the director. The tone of the
movie is dark and surreal, and the cinematography can only be described
as dream-like. The image never breaks up, and does not exhibit signs of
wear. Neither does the transfer suffer from compression artifacts or
other DVD authoring errors. The white subtitles are large and very easy
to read. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0 which provides stereo
separation for all the explosive action scenes. There is not much
imaging, but the DD 2.0 soundfield is crisp and clear; and allows for a
good sense of depth. The bass is there, but not as focused as it would
be if it were an American production (so don’t expect the machine guns
and explosions to rock the house). The Japanese dialog emanates from the
center channel without distortion. The disc also includes an English
soundtrack, dubbed by the voice professionals who do anime. ZEIRAM 2
also has a moody synthesizer score that supports the action and
intrigue. The only extras on this disc are English trailers (widescreen)
for MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAKAIDER, BIO-ZOMBIE, and the awesome MOON OVER
TAO (no English). Though the disc lacks extras, Media Blaster’s menu
navigation and graphics have improved tremendously. Earlier releases in
the Tokyo Shock series (like GAPPA) contained static menus. This disc
has impressive animated menus with voices and music from the movie.
ZEIRAM 2 has all the mayhem of the original, and
then some. Though the plot is essentially the same, the sequel adds more
of the human element, which unfortunately takes up too much screen time.
Amiyama’s direction and visuals skills improve with each outing and it’ll
be interesting to see how his career blossoms in the future. ZEIRAM 2 is
a perfect showcase for the beautiful and talented Yuko Moriama. I couldn’t
accept any other actress as Iria. Media Blasters produces a fine DVD
with a good transfer, though I must admit 16x9 enhancement would be much
appreciated. This DVD is sure to please fans of this franchise. I hope
that Media Blaster’s releases ZEIRAM 3 in the not-to-distant future,
with the same quality as this disc.
ZEIRAM
2 is available from DVDEmpire.com
IRIA:
THE ZEIRAM COLLECTORS TIN is available from DVDEmpire.com
